John T. Ryan PERHAPS THE DESIRE to do an animated short subject which was something other than a pre-feature film sort of a laugh getter on the local movie theatre's play bill. The position being a likened to that of a journeyman Stand-Up Comic's serving as an opening act for an established Star Singer; such as a Sinatra, Bennett or Streisand. Be that the case or not, there's no denying that Producer-Director and universally recognized Animation Guru, Mr. Chuck Jones, overwhelmingly succeeded in bring the world a solely unique film.PLEASE PARDON our ignorance, but this was a title completely unknown to us until yesterday evening (3/24/09), when the Turner Classic Movies Channel celebrated the birthday of Chuck Jones with the playing of a special about his life; as well as running many of his great shorts from Warner Brothers/Looney Tunes-Merrie Melodies and MGM's Cartoon unit.WITH this, our 1st & 2nd viewings (they re-ran the entire line-up); we have only come away with truly mixed feelings about THE DOT AND THE LINE: A ROMANCE IN LOWER MATHEMATICS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1965).UNQUESTIONABLY, the project had been undertaken with the firm resolve to make it as high class and polished animation as it could possibly be. Background art, "Character" Design" (if it can be called that), color work and accompanying Musical Score, by Eugene Poddany, all measure up to the highest of standards. It manages to keep our interest up at a high level; if only to see what comes next.OBVIOUSLY the cartoon, as well as the original story, tries very hard to be more than just a little story of fantasy and imagination. There certainly some "hidden meaning" in all of this on screen business; being underscored by the off camera narration provided by the 'veddy English' veteran Actor, Mr. Robert Morely. In fact, tour way of thinking, it is done without subtlety or underplaying. We felt as if we were being constantly bombarded with messages of "LOOK! HOW DIFFERENT THIS IS!" THE LOGICAL question next would have to be asking ourselves about just what sort of subtle messages are we supposed to get from a viewing? Are there any obvious or less than obvious metaphors? Is there some relevancy on screen to real life in the mid 1960's? FIRST INSTINCTS seem to go toward the plethora of tales that have related the misfortunes of star-crossed Lovers caught on the opposite sides in ongoing Family Feuds. (Not the TV Series, Schultz!) These would include that of the Capulets & the Montagues (Romeo & Juliet), the Hatfields & the McCoys or the Cub Fans & the White Sox Suppopeters. This aspect appears to be a trifle obvious.COULD THE answer lie in the hardship and tribulations of being different. This could be done in such a manner as to be an intentional reference to the Racial problems that were then approaching a boiling point in our country. After all, what would seem to be better qualified to represent the Races of Man than the different shapes; such as Dots, Straight Lines and Scribbled Lines? That did truly have a possibility of a connection and would make it a precursor to GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? (Stanley Kramer Productions/Columbia Pictures, 1967).BUT to that we cannot give a ringing endorsement. Whereas no one can say for sure and meanings of any work in the Artistic World may be valid in one's view and interpretation; but mean something totally other for another.AND just what is our evaluation of the many levels of this animation? Well our opinion is as valid as the next guy's, so here it is, THIS PRODUCTION came on the heels of a new style of Cartoon Short as exemplified by those produced by the folks over at United Productions of America; that's UPA for short. Their style of animation, backgrounds, character design and storytelling were looked upon as nothing less than sensational by both the (genuflect!) Critics and the Public. Doing their releasing through Columbia, UPA gave us such memorable moments of animation as the MR. MAGOO Series; which reached its zenith with the Magoo starring full length animated feature, 1001ARABIAN NIGHTS (UPA/Columbia, 1959).HOWEVER IT IS another UPA project that this DOT AND LINE brings to our mind. It is the adaptation of the Doctor Suess classic, GERALD McBOING-BOING (UPA/Columbia, 1951). There appears to be more than just casual similarities here.STARTING with the design, which appears to be a copy or homage to UPA, the film could easily have been done by that Studio, instead of Jones & MGM. The character design, such as it was follows suit and the format of having a narrator wasn't exactly an exclusive of UPA, it was an element of the McBoing-Boing film and its sequels & TV Series on CBS TV. But it is the central theme of the UPA Gerald short is that of the loneliness and despair that one who is different can feel in a World that seems to be all out of synch with him.* For our money, that's where it is.SOMEONE ONCE said that "Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery!" This may well apply to Mr. Chuck Jones' THE DOT AND THE LINE; for it has just too many similarities to be purely coincidental. Why, even the UPA style was used by Walt Disney in some Cartoons done in the '50's and '60's.AS for a Grade for THE DOT AND THE LINE, Schultz and I give it a C+. It's worth seeing once, but fails to inspire further viewings, and more, more, more………, etc.NOTE: * Who should know better than I, who was born and raised a REDHEAD!!! POODLE SCHNITZ!!

Seamus2829 I truly have to admire the works of Chuck Jones. He made a name for himself directing Bugs Bunny shorts for Warner Brothers starting in the 1940's (although he directed many other animated shorts during that era,including animated training films for the U.S. government,some of which featured scripts written by Theodore S.Geisel,later to be known & loved by generations as Dr.Suess),moving on to creating The Road Runner in the 1950's,and moving on even further to working on directing animated programs for television in the 1960's,to animated feature fare in the 1970's. Every now & again, he would surprise us with something different & left of centre. 'The Dot And The Line:A Romance In Lower Mathematics',a short he directed for M-G-M in 1965 is a shining example of this. The story (read by veteran British actor,Robert Morley)is simple:a straight line is madly in love with a dot,who only cares for an abstract squiggle line. This causes the line to re-evaluate his position on things. The concept of abstract animation is by no means a new idea, but Jones (with assistance from co-director/co-writer Maurice Noble)manage to pull it off nicely (the idea for animating abstract images actually hearkens back to silent films in the 1920's,and later augmented by classical music in the 1930's & beyond). Well worth seeking out if you're idea of animation is something that is exclusively for children.

sandrajolly When I first read the book version of the Dot and the Line, I had to supply the voice and "music" in my imagination, but I thought the book was wonderful. Just a few lines on a page and some words, but it really was romance. The justification for the characters' behavior was so real! I felt for the Line from the very beginning, and hated his rival. My feelings for the Dot were mixed. I just kept wishing she would come to her senses and see the Line for the great guy that he really was! When I was able to view the animated version a few years later, I was happy to see that my own interpretation was pretty much spot-on. I did enjoy the music, and I enjoyed seeing my characters come to "life" as it were. The movie was a faithful rendering of the book, which to me is still a classic! I lent my copy to a friend over ten years ago, and have not gotten it back yet...it is still making the rounds and I hope, making many other people smile.

Petry Yes: Amazing coincidence (and shades of the Blair Witch coincidence) Mr. Richard Wiley Jerome and I, Mr. Raymond Kenneth Petry, both of Sacramento CA USA at that time in Arden Junior High School, did Norton Juster's, The Dot And The Line, on his family's home movie camera - we called it, Planar-Vision - the camera had a single-frame feature, and with their tripod looking down on our display board, we pinned variously cloth cuttings of the Dot, velvet hemming for the Line (except when he looked thin and drawn and on-edge, we drew him, on-the-edge) and Squiggle was mohair yarn ... we shot the whole story. For voice we added his little sister, Jeanie, and for hours we re-recorded over our giggles and laughter, till we had it just right and well-timed: then we single-shot each scene straight-through by timings.In 1965-69, we went to Rio Americano High School, and showed our mathematics class, eventually: We were both scholars: Rich went on to be Salutatorian for Rio Americano in 1969, and matriculated at Stanford, and I took 1st Place in the Central Valleys Math Quiz (against the MAA perfect-top-scorer) in 1969, and matriculated at UCSD, for my BA in mathematics.The Dot and The Line is a most memorable story done in fun: We're delighted that Hollywood thought enough of it, too./rkp